Nelson Shanks is an artist who got the incredible opportunity to paint former President Bill Clinton's official presidential portrait for the National Gallery of Art. That's quite an honor. So, naturally he decided to stick it to Clinton.

I had heard many things about the annual ArtPrize competition. It was described to me as "crazy", "crowded" and "fun". But none of those terms came close to what I encountered in my first stroll into ArtPrize venues Friday night.What I discovered was a massive art exhib…